There were celebrations aplenty in the Suzuka paddock on Saturday evening after José María López clinched the FIA World Touring Car Championship title, becoming the first Argentine since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1957 to win a World Championship title.

Needing a minimum fourth-placed finish in Race 1, López was never going to cruise and collect and duly romped to his ninth win of the season, with the title confirmed before the chequered flag thanks to a puncture to his sole championship rival, Citroën teammate Yvan Muller.

Race 2 finally delivered victory for the works Honda squad, with series veteran Gabriele Tarquini triumphing in a tight lights-to-flag win.

Race 1: López wins WTCC crown in style

With the Citroëns having locked out the first three grid positions, the start of Race 1 was a smooth affair with López converting pole position into the lead ahead of Muller. Once again, Sébastien Loeb had a less than stellar getaway, dropping two places to fifth behind the Chevrolets of Tom Chilton and Hugo Valente.

Lopez made a blinding getaway from pole position.

Chilton’s third place wouldn’t even last the first lap; the Englishman carried too much speed through the 130R left-hander and ran wide, allowing Valente through.

Chilton, Valente and Loeb staged a thrilling race-long fight, with Chilton simultaneously trying to attack Valente while keeping a hungry Loeb at bay.

Up at the front, López slowly eased away from Muller, building a three-second lead before the luckless Muller was forced to retire with a left-rear puncture. Irrespective of what happened for the remainder of the race, López was the new World Champion.

While the title result was now a fait accompli, that didn’t mean the fans would be deprived of some top shelf racing. Valente held onto what was now second place until two laps to go. Chilton launched a surprise attack on the Frenchman at the Spoon Curve, and Valente then overcooked it at 130R in his attempts to recover the position. The Campos Racing driver ran wide through the corner, triggering a series of contacts for those behind out of which Norbert Michelisz – who had been battling hard for sixth with Tarquini – emerged in third place.

Michelisz handed the position to Loeb, while a chastened Valente was now left to fend off Tarquini and Tom Coronel for fifth. Further behind, Dušan Borković managed to overtake Tiago Monteiro in their race-long battle to claim a hard-won eighth place.

While the celebrations surrounded a very emotional López, he was quick to pay tribute to the efforts of his team and the support back in his homeland.

“I am very proud to be the first Argentinian FIA World Champion since Juan Manuel Fangio 57 years ago,” he beamed. “I would like to thank everyone involved, Citroën, my family and my fans for this achievement. If I could choose a place to win the championship I would have said Suzuka, because my idol Ayrton Senna clinched two F1 titles here and it only adds to my pride.

“It’s just hard to explain. It is a big achievement for me and for Argentina, especially because I am the first champion since Fangio, who triggered our passion for motorsport back in the fifties. I have a lot of supporters and I expect to be invited to the Casa Rosada, I am very proud to wear the colours of my country and to represent it in such a high profile championship. This is not the best period for Argentina, but it adds to my joy knowing that people are celebrating for a great achievement and having a good time because of me.”

2014 FIA WTCC Race of Japan – Race 1 (11 laps):

Driver

Team

Result

Class

1.

José María López

Total Citroën Racing C-Elysée

23:54.353

TC1

2.

Tom Chilton

ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze

+ 8.473

TC1

3.

Sébastien Loeb

Total Citroën Racing C-Elysée

+ 9.693

TC1

4.

Norbert Michelisz

Zengõ Motorsport Honda Civic WTCC

+ 10.414

TC1

5.

Hugo Valente

Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze

+ 12.153

TC1

6.

Gabriele Tarquini

Castrol Honda Racing Team Civic WTCC

+ 12.707

TC1

7.

Tom Coronel

ROAL Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze

+ 13.514

TC1

8.

Dušan Borković

Campos Racing Chevrolet RML Cruze

+ 14.340

TC1

9.

Tiago Monteiro

Castrol Honda Racing Team Civic WTCC

+ 16.507

TC1

10.

Gianni Morbidelli

Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze

+ 17.846

TC1

11.

Mehdi Bennani

Proteam Racing Honda Civic WTCC

+ 20.907

TC1

12.

Rob Huff

LADA Sport Granta Sport 1.6T

+ 21.696

TC1

13.

James Thompson

LADA Sport Granta Sport 1.6T

+ 22.802

TC1

14.

Mikhail Kozlovskiy

LADA Sport Granta Sport 1.6T

+ 32.602

TC1

15.

Franz Engstler

Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW E90 320TC

+ 1:16.593

TC2

16.

John Filippi

Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC

+ 1:19.083

TC2

17.

Henry Kwong

Campos Racing SEAT León WTCC

+ 2:15.944

TC2

Not Classified

DNF.

Yvan Muller

Total Citroën Racing C-Elysée

7 laps

TC1

NC.

René Münnich

Münnich Motorsport Chevrolet RML Cruze

7 laps

TC1

DNF.

Felipe de Souza

Liqui Moly Team Engstler BMW E90 320TC

2 laps

TC2

Race 2: Tarquini delights Honda with home win

Gabriele Tarquini finally delivered the works Honda team its first victory of the 2014 World Touring Car Championship season, with the Italian claiming a dominant win at the Japanese carmaker’s home track. The Italian finished ahead of Serbian giant Dušan Borković, who claimed his first WTCC career podium. Norbert Michelisz completed the podium to add to Honda’s celebrations.

With the top-ten qualifiers’ grid positions reversed for Race 2, Tarquini bolted off the line ahead of Borković and Michelisz, and was never headed. He backed off in the closing stages to win by less than two seconds.

Borković and Michelisz, however, had their own battle to wage. The pair made contact on the opening lap at the final chicane, but Borković prevailed.

Behind them, Hugo Valente was left to try and keep the three works Citroëns – headed by Yvan Muller – at bay, but his cause came undone thanks to a wild lunge by his compatriot, who cannoned into Valente’s Chevrolet and forced his retirement.

Muller was now through ahead of López and Loeb – who’d managed to swap positions – and now the three C-Elysées began to close in on Tom Coronel’s Chevrolet. The Dutch veteran had spent many years racing in Japan, and used all of his Suzuka know-how to keep them at bay and retain a hard-fought fourth place.

The top-seven remained in that order until the end, with Gianni Morbidelli finishing eighth ahead of Tiago Monteiro’s Honda and Tom Chilton’s Chevrolet.